Furthermore, there is solid evidence that NAC helps boost the body’s levels of glutathione, one of the main antioxidants produced by the body. In particular, glutathione is critical to liver health. Many people suffer from elevated homocysteine levels, an amino acid that is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Several studies indicate that NAC can significantly lower homocysteine levels. Finally, if you sometimes drink alcohol and get a hangover, you’ll be interested to know that NAC plus vitamin B1 (thiamine) may help the body reduce the severity of hangovers. There are many other lesser known uses for NAC. I’ll discuss more of these at the end of the article.

Available Forms of NAC

NAC is often sold in capsule form containing 600 mg per capsule, but the bulk powder form of the supplement can be much less expensive. NAC is also the primary ingredient in some pharmaceutical products including a product called Mucomyst that is used to treat mucus build-up by inhalation of a sterile liquid solution of NAC.

This article reviews the 1Fast400 N-Acetyl-Cysteine, NAC sold in bulk powder form. It is priced less than 1/2 the price of the 600 mg capsules from inexpensive reputable makers such as Puritan’s Pride and NOW Foods. Thus the bulk powder form of NAC is a good choice for people who use large quantities of it. Such people might include those with families with several people who use it for general health, immune system boosting, detoxification from mercury and heavy metals, and especially people who use it for mental health care applications similar to clinical testing being done with dosages of 2000 mg per day or more.Read more…

If you’re shopping for amino acid and protein supplements, Affordable Supplements is one of the best web sites around. They carry a wide variety of products from hundreds of large, medium, and niche manufacturers including quality low-priced dietary supplement makers such as NOW Foods and 1FAST400.

For the next week, until midnight on Tuesday, September 22, 2009, you can get an additional 5% off your order at Affordable Supplements by entering the promotional code SaveBig976 in the lower left of the checkout screen. As usual, if you order $75 or more then standard ground shipping is free.

In this article, we highlight a few of the products available at Affordable Supplements that help slow aging and prevent complications from diabetes. These include NOW Foods Carnosine and 1FAST400 bulk powder amino acids including Beta Alanine, Histidine, and Taurine.Read more…

NAC Also Useful in Mental Health

It turns out that NAC also has uses in mental health and psychiatry, too. There is now clinical trial evidence that it can be used to treat trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder involving pulling the hair out of one’s head, eyelashes, eyebrows, or elsewhere on the body. This disorder affects somewhere between 1% and 5% of the world’s population and is strongly female predominant. Estimates are that 70% to 93% of trichotillomania patients are female. There is a belief that the disorder may have genetic origin, but so far the related genes found don’t explain all cases of the disorder.Read more…